Strippers were dispatched throughout the club to help encourage some serious debauchery. And where Life and Death-era musical programming actively attempted to cut across genres and audiences, todays club nights are more tailored to individual sounds, textures and BPMs. In time, I became a partner in Milky Way. No Sleep is a visual history of the halcyon days of New York City club life as told through flyer artgathered in a new volume by myself and Evan Auerbach. The building, which was a converted church, looks more or less the same today, but it is now Limelight Shops, a mall for designer apparel. / copacabana. A 2015 survey of former nightclubs in the city identified 10 most historic ones, starting with the Cotton Club, active from 19231936.[1]. What made Danceteria such a perfect mess was the fact that the club received after-hours runoff from every type of club imaginable, from Studio 54 to CBGB to hip hop clubs to gay bars. Drenched in throbbing neon while whirling away inside the relentless, pulsating music, a simple passing glance and an open mind could lead to the journey of a lifetime. Lot 61 - The dominating force of the early aughts of New York nightlife, Amy Sacco actually opened the uber successful Lot 61 in the late 1990's. The bar was famous for having 61 flavors of . You were a legend in your own mind. There was nothing in the world I enjoyed more than spinning records. The legal drinking age was 18, the bars stayed open until four in the morning, and the Biltmore Hotel advertised special student rates for Seven Sisters and Ivy Leaguers. The venue closed in 1971, and the building on 105 Second Ave. is currently occupied by Apple Bank for Savings. Roxy had a swing high above the dancefloor where couples would relive those playground days of their youth while drinking an adult beverage. Bungalow 8 After the success of Lot 61, Amy Sacco opened her second venue on a desolate West Chelsea street in 2001 in a dilapidated warehouse and garage on West 27th Street. To learn more or opt-out, read our Cookie Policy. The design would be on a big floppy disc! Di Biasio died suddenly last year before the book was released, making it a tribute to both the photographer and the era. For almost 20 years, those photos sat in Glams apartment in New York. The original club closed in 1981, and now it's kinda surprising that this building which has studio space for the Roundabout Theatre Company and a restaurant called 54 Below was once home to an impossibly glamorous dance club. This will help to share the story with others. Rather than seeing one performance, one group of attractive people, or one bartender doing flip-tricks from Cocktail, they could see four at once. Founded by Steve Rubell and Ian Schrager. Soul Kitchen came about cause even though I was playing new music at Nells house and hip-hop I was also playing playing funk, soul and disco, but wanted to to do something where I could just play those records out, exclusively and in their entirety. (modern). A glimpse through the rare images below will remind you that as with everything in the city, the scene is constantly changing. Club flyers, by design, were ephemeral objects distributed on street corners, outside of nightclubs and concert halls, in clothing stores and retail shops, and were not intended to be preserved for posterity. I really have no idea how its endured there so long among the graduation photos, holiday snaps, etc. Only Studio B can fit that bill. Everyone was a star, and everyone could be a star. Larry Levan photographed in the DJ booth at Paradise Garage in 1978. By choosing I Accept, you consent to our use of cookies and other tracking technologies. A new book looks back at the iconic 1990s nightclub scene when sex, drugs, and dance music created the perfect cocktail for iconic parties that catered to revelers every imaginable whim. Flash, meanwhile, is riding his third wind. We did the first shows for Rob Base, De La Soulwe brought in the West Coast with N.W.A and Schoolly D came up from Philadelphia. Better yet, you could dance to that transformation. You didn't dare go unless you were perfectly turned out." In fact, through sheer circumstance, over the course of a single week in October 2016 you could watch and listen to urban folklore cement as history. With a great mix of classic rock and Motown and an a relative hands off attitude, Paul Sevigny and crew attracted an A list crowd with what seemed to be little to no effort, and the bar seemed to be more of a local than an internationally known den of debauchery. And while Sacco is hoping to drum up interest in a revamped Bungalow in 2010, it will end this decade as being closed. The East Villages Fun Gallery, co-founded by arts doyenne Patti Astor (one of the stars of the first hip-hop film, 1982s Wild Style), presented the Bronxs finest graffiti writers next to future fine-art legends Jean-Michel Basquiat and Keith Haring. We hold major institutions accountable and expose wrongdoing. One of the biggest turning points in my life was getting that job. Activism & Politics Bars & Nightlife Staten Island 1970s 1980s Lesbian Bars, Clubs & Restaurants. There was still a wild abandon in New York. Founded by Italian immigrant John Perona as a speakeasy on 52nd street in 1931, El Morocco would become famous for its ostentatious zebra print interior as well as parade of the glamorous people (including Marilyn Monroe) who sought an escape from Prohibition. Buried beneath them are clubs and parties that spoke for a wilder, more reckless and innovative city than the one we live in now. Flashs skills at cutting up records, and his interpretation of the cross-genre flow at the heart of the citys original sound (disco, rap, funk, dance-punk, Latin, mutant electronic, all in the mix) were rapturous and timeless. Excerpted from No Sleep: NYC Nightlife Flyers 19881999 by Adrian Bartos aka DJ Stretch Armstrong and Evan Auerbach, available now from powerHouse Books. On my nights off, I went to parties like Giant Step & Soul Kitchen. During the 1990s, photographer Steve Eichner documented the rowdy, over-the-top debauchery that was New York City's club scene and nightlife. In the Limelight: The Visual Excess of NYC Night Life in the '90s, In The Limelight - The Visual Ecstasy of NYC Nightlife in the 90s. The Tunnel had a ball pit where people could jump into thousands of yellow plastic balls and throw them around like an out of control kindergarten playroom. E. Jean Carroll was 'out talking to people' Long before this fraught moment in the media's glare, Carroll was a journalistic luminary, known for her Ask E. Jean advice column, and for being a . The other took place in a Bushwick warehouse, and marked the long-awaited return of Andrew Weatherall, who came of DJing age in acid-house London and Manchester (helping produce some of that eras greatest records) and continues to mix moods tinged with dub and psychedelia. B. First we did Milky Way, then came PayDayanother hip-hop night and then Saturday night was our house night, $100,000 Bar, for which Keith Haring did the flyer. In their place, smaller clubs like Tunnel opened in Chelsea, and that's when Glam said the club kidsyoung, outlandishly dressed people who partied several times a weekemerged. Unlike many New York clubs in the post-Rudy Giuliani era, House of Yes tries hard with its musical bookings, setting and entertainment acumen. I saw my window of opportunity, gave Carlos the hard sell and handed him my tape, though I never expected to hear back. 3. The list of incredible acts that also got their starts here includes The Cure, Depeche Mode, The Beastie Boys, and Billy Idol. Of all these places only SOBs has survived into this new era, a place where I met one my most beloved girlfriends and saw Kanye West for the first time, reasons enough I hope it can survive this new, more buttoned down NYC. Also, he was always taking photos. Economics for one but also demographics. In the ultimate party move, the club was shut down in 2001 by the liquor authority after years of negative attention from Mayor Rudy Giuliani as part of his "quality of life" campaign and the owner was deported to Canada in 2003. Known for the sticker clad walls and prominent rock performances, this venue founded by Hilly Kristal helped to usher in new American music genres and revolutionize culture in downtown Manhattan. The scene played out like a simulacrum of the very bygone moment that Lawrences book documents. Mayor Rudy Giuliani had declared war on dance clubs, the days of the Club Kids were in their final throes and the reign of Peter Gatien and clubs like Tunnel were winding down. Photography wasn't his profession. Spa After his genuinely outstanding Life closed down, Uncle Steve Lewis brought much of his gang to Spa, a raucous water themed dance club near Union Square. And if that wasnt enough of a draw, every Wednesday night, the club hosted a contest, from pie-eating and singing challenges, to best legs competitions between its famous dancers and attractive clubgoers. Gatien thought since folks generally hang out in the bathrooms at clubs, why not put a bar in the center of the bathroom with some seating? Dynell still plays around town, but on this weekend, he and a coterie of other artists and gallery owners, DJs and musicians, writers and editors, club owners and scenesters, were detailing the circumstances of Life and Death on the New York Dance Floor to a rapt audience. At 254 West 54th Street, Steve Rubell and Ian Schrager converted a former opera house into the most notorious nightclub of the disco era. Yet what Life and Death on the New York Dance Floor makes acutely obvious, as both volume and prism, is not just the cultural value of the citys party scene, but how it also serves as a moral compass and how it still can. He was moving to Miami Beach, Fla., and he thought the humid weather would damage the photos. The clubs made sure we got a DJ set AND a live show. Each night was an out-and-out Bacchanal, with Cab Calloway, Ellington, Louis Armstrong and others soundtracking the vice emporium with songs like "Reefer Blues," "Kicking the Gong Around" (20's slang for using opium), and "Kokey Joe.. We would put a telephone number on a flyer, and we have an answering machine and on the day before the party we would put the address on the outgoing message. As Lawrence writes, the Downtown communitys cross-cultural collaborative spirit was not limited to clubs. Even the most famous personalities in the city werent guaranteed entry into the exclusive venue. Studio 54 is arguably the most famous nightclub in history, and the most influential club in the disco movement of the late '70s. If our memory serves us correctly, they also served a delicious tuna entre all night. The classic version of The Velvet Underground played some of their last shows there, and the venue hosted early New York gigs by Patti Smith, Aerosmith, and Bruce Springsteen. It was a mixing of lots of artistsvisual artists, graphic designers, video artists, music people, fashion people, etc. It was going to be hard to go back to playing my other bumble-fuck gigs after having this taste of the high life. 1. May 27, 2020. Language links are at the top of the page across from the title. Above all, these ten clubs mastered the art of debauchery and earned a place in nightlife history. Today's gay nightlife experience feels sterile and conservative in comparison, and leads me to relive the past . Sweating and pulsing to the beat simultaneously with thousands of other people. The stage at The Roxy. A reaction to the giant, airplane hangar-esque discos that had permeated the city during the 1970s, Nells was a Jazz, Reggae and Hip-Hop dance club with a capacity of just 250. Pictured: Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz at the legendary nightclub. Then the girls returned to their capes to finish the number. Popular with women's softball teams, it was the first official. Featuring dance cages and several private rooms dispersed along its distinctive narrow length, The Tunnel was a mecca for club kids of all types who flooded to its specialty rooms designed like Victorian libraries, S&M dungeons, and other whimsical locales, including a separate gay bar in the back of the tunnel. But this seal of approval sort of made me downtown famous which was more than enough for me. To celebrate "In the Limelight: The Visual Excess of NYC Night Life in the '90s," Eichner's new book with Gabriel Sanchez, Patch takes you back to the jubilation of clubbing in '90s NYC. The epitome of old-school New York Latin class, Palladium Dance Hall hosted everyone from Celia Cruz, the most famous Cuban songstress of all time, to Desi Arnaz to a parade of jazz greats so long it would have put a New Orleans funeral to shame. In the city that loves to boast about how little it sleeps, the nightclub has been the center of the universe since Jazz Age hipsters started desperately flocking to the Cotton Club in the 1920s. That was his niche. When you look at a great club flyer, theres a beauty in the economy of the design. I didnt know that in order to get a job as a DJ you had to already be working as a DJ and be cool enough to know the people who were hiring them. He didn't take studio photography or anything like that.. Thats how you knew where the party was. Other stories range from pure chaos -- Sid Vicious getting thrown in jail for attacking Patti Smiths brother -- to pure, weird boredom: David Bowie recalled meeting Iggy Pop there, describing it as Me, Iggy, and Lou Reed at one table with absolutely nothing to say to each other, just looking at each others eye makeup.. A month after the waiting list for the charm opened, there were 600 . So much action and a communal vibe of everyone moving their bodies to the beat. Yet, what changes when you leave a longtime residence? They had the very best DJs (Stretch Armstrong, DJ Jules, DJ Enuff, DJ Hiro, Frankie Inglese) and the most beautiful array people (models, rap stars, ballers, art kids, skaters, drug dealers, etc.). His photographs have been published in Vogue, The New York Times, Newsweek, TIME, Rolling Stone, People, Vanity Fair, Cosmo, Details and GQ. One of the first jobs I could get in the scene was as assistant cashier at Milky Way. The most famous version of Danceteria, one of the most iconic New York night clubs of the '80s, was located at 30 West 21st St. The clubs brought people together, and I would delight in all the love and passion I saw throughout the club scene. Part of HuffPost Entertainment. The venue's DJs' impact on dance music is still being felt today, but now the actual space on 84 King Street is just a parking facility owned by Verizon. Lawrence first escaped to New York in the early 90s at a sensitive time in his life, following the sudden death of both parents and an early crisis of professional faith at BBC Newsnight. I would drive Dmitry to work and usually dance all night. It's dubbed the "wickedest place in New York" by local press. The timing and location of the nights entertainment Grandmaster Flash at House of Yes was entirely coincidental. Serious house music fans will get their fix of trance, post-disco, and more at this smoky . Billing itself as part disco, part circus theatre, it features DIY dcor, psychedelic projections, dressed-for-cabaret employees and an audience always ready to let loose. Please enter a valid email and try again. Ive put my brain through some wear and tear over the years and honestly have a hard time remembering names of places I played last week, but I will never forget the name and address of that party: Nut n Honey at Tilt, 179 Varick Street (corner of King Street, for extra credit). Paradise Club, The Times Square Edition, 701 7th Ave, New York, NY 10036. Even Emmy-award winning actor Peter Dinklage has a scar to remember (from his neck to his eye-brow to be exact) after getting kneed in the temple while rocking a bit too hard on stage with his former band, Whizzy, which ironically became good practice for his future on Game of Thrones. The club moved to Williamsburg, Brooklyn, in 2009, and the old space is currently vacant. Id be on the streets for hours talking to people can I throw a party here? Can I load in sound equipment? Can I do this, can I do that? We faced a lot of challenges. Studio 54 and other clubs have, since the 1960s, been exercises in . Below weve excerpted some choice images, words and memories to recapture an essential cultural moment. April 21, 2023. We brought in a shitty sound system and set it up in the back, and it just took off from there. The Palladium on 126 East 14th St. was both a cavernous dance club early episodes of Club MTV were shot there and a venue that hosted gigs by The Clash, The Rolling Stones, Devo, Public Image Ltd, 2 Live Crew, and Fugazi. Reporting on what you care about. Steve Eichner is a legendary nightlife photographer. Sacco poached most of her high end crowd when she opened Bungalow a few years later, but Lot 61 had a pretty good run, and like Bungalow, the space managed to carry on for several years after it had fallen out of favor with the scene. It's still called The Palladium, though. And although set in the '90s, the decade saw the 2003 release of Macaulay Culkin's "Party . This is a list of notable current and former nightclubs in New York City. It was a major turnoff for customers, even if you were friends with the owner. The mythology was that New York was this hellhole of dysfunctionality, crime, murder, and garbage piled on the streets, says Lawrence. The venue was shut down in 1996 and is now part of the Foxwoods Theater, home of Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark. The club moved uptown to West 54th in the early '90s, and the space is currently occupied by the dance club and rock venue Webster Hall. The origin of that lane is the New York described in the pages of Lawrences book. (1983-1990s) The Loft (New York City) Nell's (1986-2004) Palladium (1976-1995) The Q; Riobamba; The Saint; Stork Club; Studio 54 (1977-1991) Therapy; Thursdays at The World were a memorable night that will always warm my heart. Centro Fly Much like Avenue is going for the gastrolounge ethos, Centro-Fly sought to create a more sophisticated setting for the aging crowd who had grown tired of hard core dance halls like Area and Vinyl. Ernie Glam (his club name) met Di Biasio in the late 1980s at a party, and as they struck up a friendship, he learned more about Di Biasios life. Drag queens, crossdressers, facepaint, and sexiness everywhere. Spanning the late 1980s through the . Every night, caravans of upper crust clients would flock to the Cotton's plantation decor and old-South, white-gloved service, ignoring Prohibition with gusto as Duke Ellington led the house band. 8. But with all the flurry of openings in the area over the past 10 years, Lotus became an afterthought to its original patrons, and was unable to attract a new crowd. Nells is probably most famous to younger readers, though, as a regular hangout of American Psychos fictional character Patrick Bateman. Please also read our Privacy Notice and Terms of Use, which became effective December 20, 2019. Or it could be as playful and eye-catching as Warhols pop art, flipping the script on some iconic image hoping to seize your attention as you walked by the window of a hip Soho boutique. Well send you our daily roundup of all our favorite stories from across the site, from travel to food to shopping to entertainment. The venue shut down nearly a decade ago after the building's owner, New York University, raised rent, and now the building has NYU classrooms. 12 Lost Gay Bars of New York City Michael Ryan. I was lucky to see Paris Grey sing Big Fun, Good Life with Inner City (one of the first house hits) as well as Bas Noir, Jomanda, A Guy Called Gerald, Liz Torrez, Loleatta Holloway, Two Tons of Fun, and even XLR doing Work It to the Bone.. We had to bring 20,000 pounds of sound equipment up five flights of stairs to throw the party and then bring it down the next day. It was a whole experience, making those early flyers. Owned by Peter Gatien, the church turned nightclub was at the center of the punk and disco scene in the '80s. Michael Fazakerley /Leandro Justen. We use cookies and other tracking technologies to improve your browsing experience on our site, show personalized content and targeted ads, analyze site traffic, and understand where our audiences come from. It's been said that New . All though this club was all about breaking the rules, there was a distinct order to things. Below, we look at twenty-nine engrossing images of the underground rave scene as it grew throughout the 1990s: Ravers often wore multi-colored plastic bracelets known as "kandi," which often featured the words "peace love unity respect." Those who wore them were referred to as "kandi kids." MDMA, also known as Ecstasy or Molly, became the . Bond's Casino was a nightclub and venue in Times Square that famously hosted a residency of 17 concerts by The Clash in 1981 that has been extensively bootlegged over the years. Then, people came here from all over the world on pilgrimages, said Lawrence. I'm glad he took the pictures because there was a lot of free-flowing alcohol back then, Glam said.